diff --git a/cmd/gateway_builtin_tools.go b/cmd/gateway_builtin_tools.go
index 1bb82850..42e0e362 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway_builtin_tools.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway_builtin_tools.go
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func builtinToolSeedData() []store.BuiltinToolDef {
 		{Name: "evaluate_loop", DisplayName: "Evaluate Loop", Description: "Run a generate→evaluate→revise loop between two agents for quality-critical output", Category: "delegation", Enabled: true,
 			Requires: []string{"managed_mode", "agent_links"},
 		},
-		{Name: "handoff", DisplayName: "Handoff", Description: "Transfer the conversation to another agent — the user will talk directly to that agent", Category: "delegation", Enabled: true,
+		{Name: "handoff", DisplayName: "Handoff", Description: "Transfer the conversation to another agent — the user will talk directly to that agent", Category: "delegation", Enabled: false,
 			Requires: []string{"managed_mode", "agent_links"},
 		},
 
diff --git a/internal/agent/systemprompt.go b/internal/agent/systemprompt.go
index fc2180ca..327a0c1a 100644
--- a/internal/agent/systemprompt.go
+++ b/internal/agent/systemprompt.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ var coreToolSummaries = map[string]string{
 	"browser":          "Browse web pages interactively",
 	"tts":              "Convert text to speech audio",
 	"edit":             "Edit a file by replacing exact text matches",
-	"message":          "Send a message to a channel (Telegram, Discord, etc.)",
+	"message":          "Send a PROACTIVE message to another channel/chat — do NOT use this to reply to the user, just respond directly",
 	"sessions_list":    "List sessions for this agent",
 	"session_status":   "Show session status (model, tokens, compaction count)",
 	"sessions_history": "Fetch message history for a session",